Born in Australia, Percy Grainger was a successful concert pianist by his early 20s. He emigrated to America in 1914 and joined the army as a bandsman during World War I. This suite presents three of Grainger's most popular works of the more than 400 he composed. The first, "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday," is representative of some of his earliest folksong collecting. The second, "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," is a slow Scottish folk tune originally written for "men's chorus and whistlers." The eucalyptus trees that are common in Victoria, Australia, are called "gums," and the young shoots that spring up at the bottom of the tree trunks are suckers. The term "gum-suckers" has become a nickname for young native sons of that area – like Grainger. --James Huff 21:39, March 25, 2007 (EDT) (from the program notes of The Claremont Winds, submitted with permission)